The Black Lotus Wife Forces Me to Pretend to Be an Omega. - Chapter 8

“Hahaha, this is so much fun.” Luo Xiaoxiao scrolled through videos on her phone.

To understand what the “Huajuan Race” was all about, she had specifically looked it up—ending up spending four to five hours on it.

By the time Li Fanshuang returned from lunch, she was still lying on the couch, not having moved an inch.

Placing the takeout on the table, Li Fanshuang asked, “You haven’t moved all day, have you?”

Luo Xiaoxiao gave a half-hearted response before diving back into Douyin.

Li Fanshuang couldn’t take it anymore and snatched her phone away. “Enough playing.”

“Hey, hey! Give Guolai 1 back to me!” Luo Xiaoxiao grabbed her phone back, pouting at Li Fanshuang. “You’re so mean!”

Li Fanshuang sighed. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Luo Xiaoxiao paused, only then realizing how long she’d been glued to her phone.

“Wifey~”

Oh no, oh no—did I just break character? The camera’s still on, right? I was slacking off!

Setting her phone aside, Luo Xiaoxiao took Li Fanshuang’s hand. “Wifey, it’s just that the Huajuan Race is too adorable.”

Grr—

Her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl.

“Talk while you eat,” Li Fanshuang said understandingly.

Luo Xiaoxiao opened the takeout box—all her favorites.

Except there wasn’t much rice.

Wuwuwu…

She remembered how little she’d been eating these past few days to maintain her image.

Her deer-like eyes brimmed with resentment as she looked at Li Fanshuang. Wifey, you just don’t understand me.

Li Fanshuang stiffened under her gaze. “Is there something on my face?”

“Yeah, a little something.” Luo Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“Wifey loves me a little.” She winked at her darling wife.

Wuhu, who can resist this?

So, did she figure it out?

@ActorLiFanshuang, have you two actually understood the Huajuan Race rules?

Li Fanshuang’s Weibo notifications were permanently off, so she couldn’t hear the audience’s pleas.

“So, what’s your conclusion?”

Luo Xiaoxiao quickly shoveled the last bite of rice into her mouth and swallowed. “Two main points: First, we have to wake up early—probably by 4 AM to get to the Panda Paradise.”

“Huh?” Li Fanshuang was taken aback. She hadn’t expected it to be that early.

Luo Xiaoxiao eyed her suspiciously. “If you oversleep, we’ll definitely miss Guolai. Hmph!”

Just thinking about how she’d tried to wake Li Fanshuang up for morning exercise, only to be growled at, made her shiver.

“What…?” Li Fanshuang wondered—had she upset her again? Were Omega’s moods really this hard to read?

Then a memory flashed through her mind—waking up to someone standing by the bed, phone light illuminating their face.

So that “ghost” was Luo Xiaoxiao?

The realization made her lips twitch. “You didn’t try to wake me up this morning, did you?”

“Hmph.” Luo Xiaoxiao felt wronged just thinking about it. Over the years, plenty of people had told her to “get lost,” but how could Li Fanshuang—with that unfairly gorgeous face—say it to her?

The thought alone made her… ouch.

Li Fanshu’s drowsy appearance once again surfaced in Luo Xiaoxiao’s mind, along with how stunning she looked when she told her to scram.

“Standing by my bed first thing in the morning—are you out of your mind? It was five o’clock!” Just thinking about that scene made Li Fanshuang shudder.

“If you can’t even get up at five, how are we supposed to handle the Flower Roll Challenge? Maybe we should just give up and buy tickets normally. I checked—they’re 55 yuan each. If we tighten our belts, we can get by with just a corn cob each in the park, then come back for dinner in the evening.”

Li Fanshu’s eyes lit up—that actually sounded like a decent plan.

Knock, knock, knock—

Someone rapped on the door.

Li Fanshuang got up to answer it, finding Sun Lei standing outside with a megaphone in hand. “Warning! No evading the mission in any form!”

Li Fanshuang massaged her temples and covered the megaphone. “I can hear you just fine.”

“Director Sun, this mission is ridiculous. We’re in a villa area over 30 kilometers from the park. A taxi costs over 60 yuan one way—even if we complete the mission, round-trip fares would be 120 yuan, plus 55 yuan per ticket. That’s 175 yuan, leaving us with only 25 yuan for food!”

Sun Lei pondered for a moment before muttering, “Huh, why did my taxi ride here cost 120?”

Luo Xiaoxiao narrowed her eyes. “Because you took a premium car! So you knew how much it costs, yet you still tried to screw us over?”

Seeing Luo Xiaoxiao gearing up for another round of pitiful complaints, Sun Lei bowed hastily. “My apologies.”

Bang—

He slammed the door shut again.

Luo Xiaoxiao huffed. “Ugh, what a jerk!”

“Relax, it’s fine.”

Luo Xiaoxiao wrapped her arms around Li Fanshu’s waist, whining, “Wifey, Guagua’s heart is suffering~”

“There, there, no suffering here.” Li Fanshuang patted her fluffy head.

For some reason, Li Fanshuang suddenly thought that spending her days with this clingy drama queen might not be so bad after all.

The two of them—one pouting, the other indulging—made the online spectators swoon: So sweet! I’m dying of diabetes!

“So you weren’t just goofing off in the room all this time? You were actually planning?”

Luo Xiaoxiao sniffled and nodded. “Yeah. I crunched the numbers—there’s no way to make 200 yuan work. It’s too early for the subway, and the nearest station is 10 kilometers away. We could take it back in the evening, but we’d hit rush hour, and getting home from the station would be another problem.”

Li Fanshuang wasn’t used to seeing Luo Xiaoxiao so serious and composed—usually, she was all theatrics. “You…”

She almost asked if Luo Xiaoxiao had been body-snatched, but then it hit her: they’d only known each other for a few days. I’m wearing a mask too—how can I expect her to show her true self?

A bitter, inexplicable discomfort settled in Li Fanshu’s chest.

“So, the best solution I can think of is to just… give up,” Luo Xiaoxiao concluded.

Shaking off her tangled thoughts, Li Fanshu’s gaze landed on the mission card on the table.

There was actually fine print on the back. “What’s this?”

Luo Xiaoxiao was reminded by her voice and picked up the mission card to read, “Four keys are hidden in this house, representing different modes of transportation. Please find them before 6 PM…”

Squinting at the tiny characters smaller than grains of rice, Luo Xiaoxiao thought Sun Lei probably never intended for them to be legible.

Li Fanshuang covered her eyes. “Don’t strain yourself if it’s too hard to read.”

“Mmm.” Luo Xiaoxiao grumbled—damn Sun Lei must have done this on purpose. Making the text so small!

Li Fanshuang took a glass of water and placed it over the mission card. The previously illegible words instantly became clear.

“Key of Light, Key of Wind, Key of Fire, Key of Water.”

“Huh?” Li Fanshuang flipped the card repeatedly but found no other clues. So where were these keys?

After understanding the task, the two hurried out.

Being a good sport, Luo Xiaoxiao knocked on Lu Yu’s door. “Lu Yu, open up! If you couldn’t compete for the mission, at least have the guts to open the door!”

The door shook from her pounding, and soon Lu Yu opened it. “Are you bullying me?” The young mistress looked at Luo Xiaoxiao in disbelief.

Luo Xiaoxiao pulled her along. “Hurry up and help us find the keys.”

“What keys?” Lu Yu clearly hadn’t seen the clues.

Pointing at the tiny text on her mission card, Luo Xiaoxiao said, “Heaven’s secrets can’t be revealed.” Then she left.

The two went downstairs, where competitors Fang Jin and Zhu Yuxin were sitting in the living room. Luo Xiaoxiao and Li Fanshuang had no time for small talk and immediately began searching for the keys—they didn’t want to walk to the amusement park the next day.

“You…” Zhu Yuxin looked puzzled.

Before she could finish, Lu Yu came downstairs. “Have you decided?” Zhu Yuxin asked.

Fang Jin stood up, trying to approach Lu Yu, but Zhu Yuxin blocked him. Fang Jin scowled, “You…” then turned to Lu Yu, “Yu Yu, look at her—”

“Don’t talk to me like that! We’re not close!”

Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting!

Lu Yu was going crazy. Why did Daddy think this guy was compatible with her?

But… her gaze shifted to Zhu Yuxin. As her lifelong rival, though annoying, there was no denying she was good-looking—far more pleasant to look at than that scheming Fang Jin.

“Since you both need my help, whoever finds the keys first gets to go on a date with me.”

Nearby, Luo Xiaoxiao, who had been searching fruitlessly, cursed inwardly—Lu Yu was resorting to such tactics!

“Fine. What clues do we have?” Zhu Yuxin asked calmly.

Lu Yu listed the names of the four keys.

Zhu Yuxin immediately walked to the fireplace.

“What are you doing?” Lu Yu asked, confused. It wasn’t time to light the fireplace yet.

Ignoring her, Zhu Yuxin reached inside and pulled out a gleaming golden key.

“No way!” Luo Xiaoxiao was dumbfounded. Was it really that simple? Right under their noses?

Li Fanshuang’s eyes sharpened. Realizing something, she grabbed Luo Xiaoxiao’s hand. “Let’s go.”

“Huh?”

The two went to the swimming pool in the yard.

“What’s up? What did you figure out, babe?”

Li Fanshuang’s gaze fell upon the swimming pool. “The names of those keys are clues. The Fire Key was in the fireplace, so the Water Key must be in the pool. But I…”

She didn’t know how to swim.

Spotting the key at the bottom of the pool, her eyes darkened with uncertainty.

Just as she was distracted, a coat flew onto Li Fanshuang’s shoulders, followed by a splash as Luo Xiaoxiao gracefully dove into the water.

“Luo Xiaoxiao!” In her panic, Li Fanshuang called out her name.

Terrified of water, Li Fanshuang’s hands trembled slightly at the sight of the pool. Would Luo Xiaoxiao be alright?

Moments later, Luo Xiaoxiao emerged holding the key aloft. “Look!”

“Don’t ever do that again,” Li Fanshuang said, draping the coat over her shoulders.

Luo Xiaoxiao chuckled and pointed toward the roof. “The Wind Key must be at the weathervane.”

“Then we’re only missing one key,” Li Fanshuang said with a smile. But then it struck her—where could the Light Key be?

As they pondered this, Luo Xiaoxiao suddenly had an epiphany. Barely containing her excitement, she asked:

“Darling, do you believe in light?”

Li Fanshuang: ?

What the hell is this nonsense?